10.31.2012

I loved you enough

Some
day when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates
a parent, I will tell them:
I loved
you enough to ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would
be home.
I loved
you enough to insist that you save your money and buy a bike for yourself
even though we could afford to buy one for you.
I loved
you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend
was a creep.
I loved
you enough to make you take a Milky Way back to the drugstore (with a bite
out of it) and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay
for it."
I loved
you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room,
a job that would have taken 15 minutes.
I loved
you enough to let you see anger, disappointment and tears in my eyes. Children
must learn that their parents aren't perfect.
I loved
you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when
the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
But
most of all, I loved you enough to say NO when I knew you would hate me
for it. Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them,
because in the end you won, too.Erma Bombeck

10.30.2012

Naomi Wolf: Liberate female sexuality research

Engaging with new data is part of feminism's tradition of empowering women's well-being and autonomy.

(Photo: AP)

Story Highlights

Is this brave new world really that liberating for women? The new data show -- not so much.

Forty years on, the data on female sexual satisfaction have not budged upward.

Remarkable new findings could change that, if we will pay attention.

12:13PM EDT October 26. 2012 -
The conventional wisdom is that we are living in a free-for-all,
anything-goes, truly sexually liberated society. There is -- seemingly
-- every kind of information about sex in virtually every magazine on
newsstands and, of course, one can dial up porn at the click of a modem,
24/7. But is this brave new world really that liberating -- for women?
The
new data show -- not so much. When Shere Hite brought out her famous
(and, at the time, notorious) report on female sexuality in 1973, about
one-third of women self-reported that they did not have orgasms when
they wished to during sex. This finding preceded Hite's important -- for
the time -- assertion that penetration was not all there was in terms
of female sexual response, and a wave of information about female
sexuality followed.
But our conventional wisdom about what female
arousal and desire are was frozen in the mid-1970s. Masters and
Johnson's (for the time) avant-garde research established that female
sexual response was pretty much the same as male sexual response, unfolding in a parallel cycle of arousal, plateau, climax and resolution.
Well,
40 years on, the data on female sexual satisfaction have not budged
upward since Hite's day. In some ways, they show erosion in pleasure and
even a striking decline in many women's fundamental interest in sex.
Indeed,
for all the tremendous media interest in male sexual dysfunction -- and
the millions invested in pharmaceutical treatments for it -- a
remarkably unheralded epidemic is actually almost not discussed at all
outside of a few doctors' offices and private spaces: One-third of women (some data show up to 43%) report "hypoactive sexual desire" -- they self-report little interest in sex and little desire for it, and define that as a problem for them.
An additional 30% -- some the same women, some different women -- about
the same as in Hite's day, self-report that they do not regularly reach
orgasm when they wish to do so, and also self-report that that is a
problem as they define it.Should this matter?
Something
striking about a major cultural change -- I would say, a major step
backward in our fight for women's freedom and well-being -- is that when
Hite launched her discussion, while it was greeted with great
controversy, finally society agreed that women's pleasure and sexual
well-being mattered and deserved respectful inquiry. From Ms. Magazine to The Dinner Party, it was a given, ultimately, that female sexual pleasure was an important value for feminists to champion.
In
contrast, discourse about the value of women's sexuality and their
erotic well-being has been so marginalized over the past few decades
that in today's climate, new findings on female arousal and satisfaction
are not being reported in mainstream media. When one brings them into
public debate, as I have recently, I find that one must make the case
from the start that these numbers -- and female sexual satisfaction --
matter at all.But matter they do
One obvious insight
is suggested by remarkable new findings in fields of neuroscience: In
the past generation, scientists at the forefront of research on women
and desire are making transformational new discoveries about female
anatomy, arousal and the role of orgasm. The new data that scientists
are revealing about women and desire often include a brain-vagina
connection. These discoveries should change how we see the pattern of
female sexual response, and they go a long way to explaining why, for so
many women, pleasure under the conventional wisdom is so elusive.
For
example, though Masters and Johnson believed that men's and women's
responses are the same, new data show key gender differences in response
patterns. The role of the autonomic nervous system is much more important for women's arousal than we have understood. This means that relaxation, being free from "bad stress,"
is essential to women's bodies' abilities to become sexually excited.
It turns out that sharing housework, or doing whatever is necessary to
de-stress a female partner, really is foreplay for women, in a way that
is unique to them. These findings can benefit women of all sexualities,
and whether they are in relationships or on their own.
Other
fascinating differences are being mapped in labs: Barry Komisaruk of
Rutgers University has identified a new sexual center in women -- at the
mouth of the cervix; Janniko Georgiadis and his team found that a part
of the brain involved with self-regulation and self-awareness goes quiet
for women
in orgasm; Komisaruk and Beverly Whipple found that stimulating
different parts of the genitals (clitoris, labia, vaginal walls, etc.)
corresponded to activation in different parts of the female brain associated with different brain functions, and that women self-report different emotions based on different areas touched.
James Pfaus' landmark study of female rats
at Concordia University has established that these lower mammals
remember negative (pleasureless) sexual experiences and make decisions
for the future (decisions involving the prefrontal cortext) to avoid
potential mates associated with bad sex. He also found that the dopamine
system means that female sexual pleasure is self-reinforcing:
rewarding sex leads to more active search for rewarding sex, and
disappointing sex leads, after only a few negative experiences, among
female lower mammals, to withdrawal.
Women respond differently
than men do to something as fundamental as being stroked. A final
relatively new finding is that women are extremely variable and
individual to the level of the neural wiring in their pelvises, meaning
that every woman must be "learned" anew.
If we put these new
findings into practice, we can see that our culture's "sexual script"
may well change, to make female arousal patterns and the female
mind-body connection more central.
Other findings should make us take rape and sexual abuse far more seriously: A now vast body of data, such as a study
by Cindy Meston and Alessandra Rellini, shows that the after effects of
rape or sexual abuse stay in the female brain and body years after a
"non-violent" attack, changing physical functions as basic as the body's
response to exercise and to erotic videos. This data should lay to rest
that there is any such thing as a "non-violent" rape, and it opens new
vistas for more effective support for victims of rape and sex crime.
These
new data are often eye-opening, and some of them might make us grapple
with our conventional wisdom. But should we be alarmed by them? I think
not. There is nothing unfeminist about finding out more about female
anatomy and sexual response. Indeed, it is a fundamentally empowering
project. And there is nothing trivial about female pleasure and women's
wish for more of it.
Given that women throughout the world are
targeted for their sexuality -- from female genital mutilation, to child
marriage, to the use of rape as a weapon of war, to some countries in
which simple gestures of female desire such as kissing or texting a
potential partner are sometimes punished with stoning or burning -- the
more we insist on understanding and respecting female sexual well-being,
the safer and healthier all of us can be.
I believe that engaging
with these remarkable new findings is part of feminism's long and
laudable tradition of seeing empowerment in supporting women's sexual
self-knowledge and autonomy. It is odd to me that one would have to make
a case for that -- in 2012 -- but as we should see by now, the next
sexual revolution is long overdue.Naomi Wolf is the author of the new book Vagina: A New Biography.In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, inc

10.29.2012

Positive Psychology is the
term used to describe therapy that places greater emphasis on assisting people
toward achieving a fulfilling life than on identifying and treating pathology.This group would fit more into this category
that into a more pathology-oriented group therapy.

The terms for this pursuit
vary, e.g.: Authentic Happiness, Search for Serenity, Flourish, Flow, Man’s
Search for Meaning, Flourish. What these all have in common is the goal of
achieving a fulfilling life – a sense of well-being.

In his book, Flourish, Martin Seligman attempts to
define the elements that constitute this sense of well-being.His suggestions:

1.Frequent enjoyment of Positive Emotions

2.Doing work that gives a sense of Engagement (e.g. loss of self/time in the activity)

10.26.2012

Attending an elite college may not be worth the cost

Some research shows that students who
are admitted to elite schools, but attend elsewhere, do just as well in
life as people who actually attend those schools.

By Liz WestonMoney Talk

October 21, 2012

Dear Liz: Please make me feel like I'm doing the
right thing. My daughter happens to be very talented academically and
athletically. She will graduate from one of the best prep schools in the
country. She also plays ice hockey and is being recruited by some of
the best schools. However, we are of middle-class means. We were given
outstanding aid from her prep school, which made it very affordable. The
net price calculators of the colleges recruiting her indicate we won't
get nearly the same level of support.We have a lot of equity in
our home and about $25,000 total in college funds for both of our
children (we also have a son in 9th grade). We make about $185,000 as a
family and pay about 12% to mandatory retirement and healthcare
accounts. I'm hoping by some magical formula we can beat the
"calculator" but I'm not so confident. So please tell me that paying for
an elite education is worth our sacrifices. Our daughter has worked
very hard to put herself in a position to gain entry into these schools,
but I just need an expert to make me feel better.Answer: An expert who makes you feel better about buying an education you can't afford isn't doing you any favors.So let's do a reality check. The amount you have saved for
both your children would pay for a little more than one semester at most
elite schools, which run around $60,000 a year these days. If she
finishes in four years, that's a price tag of about a quarter of a
million dollars.Of course, most college students don't pay the
sticker price for college. They get some kind of help. You, however,
can't expect much of that help, since you're really not "of middle-class
means." At your current income, you make more money than about 95% of
American households. Financial aid formulas don't particularly care that
you may live in an expensive area or that you prioritized spending over
saving, only realizing too late that you can't afford the schools your
daughter wants to attend.The exceptions may be Ivy League
schools, many of which have committed to capping tuition costs even for
upper-income families. If your daughter gets into one of those schools,
she may have a shot at an affordable education.Other schools may
be willing to give her "merit aid" to induce her to attend, especially
if she's an outstanding hockey player and they want outstanding hockey
players. But you'll still be left with a sizable bill and only one way
to pay for it: borrowing, either from your home equity or via federal
student loans. Your daughter can borrow $5,500 in federal loans her
first year, but as parents you can borrow up to the full cost of her
education from the federal PLUS loan program.Which leads to the
question: Is taking on up to a quarter of a million dollars in debt for
an undergraduate degree a sacrifice or is it insane? Before you answer,
consider that some research shows that students who are accepted to
elite schools, but attend elsewhere, do just as well in life as people
who actually attend those elite schools. (The exceptions are kids from
lower-income families, who actually do get a boost in life from
attending elite schools. Obviously, that doesn't include your child.)Also
consider how you'll feel about making payments of $1,800 a month or so
for the next 30 years to pay for this education. And how you'll feel
telling your son, "Sorry, kid, we spent all the money on your sister.
You're on your own."The picture may not be as grim as all that.
You may get a better deal from one of these schools than you expect. But
you should start managing your daughter's expectations now and look for
some colleges you can actually afford in case the dream schools don't
come through for her.

Questions may be sent to 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604 or by using the "Contact" form at asklizweston.com. Distributed by No More Red Inc.

10.24.2012

Perils of Facebook Parenting

Exploring Danger of Oversharing Children Online

A few hours after my daughter was born, she made her
big debut on Facebook. My husband posted a photo of her, wrapped in the
hospital-issued blanket, with the message: “Exhausted but now the father
of this little girl. Her name is Mika (that’s Mee-ka), born last night
around three in the morning.”

courtesy of deborah kolben

Deborah Kolben’s daughter
blows out the candles at her birthday party. Being the child of
journalists, she’s been the subject of articles about breastfreeding,
teething and more. But when is too much information really too much?

In a matter of minutes, 44 people commented on the
photo and five others “liked it.” In the following days he posted dozens
more, encouraged by all the support and affection. Also, we liked
posting photos and updates because it felt nice to have our child adored
by others, not just us.More than two and a half years have passed since her
birth, and Mika has already had quite a public life. In addition to
Facebook, Mika has been the subject of blog posts on things like
breastfeeding, teething, co-sleeping and more. This has a lot to do with
the fact that I, her mother, am the editor of a Jewish parenting
website, Kveller.com, that traffics in these sorts of parenting
conundrums.According to the most recent stats I could find, there
are now an estimated 5 million moms who blog, and we are considered by
advertisers to be a powerful marketing tool. Add to this the countless
non-blogging mothers who share updates and concerns on social media
sites like Facebook and Twitter, and you can see that Mika isn’t the
only kid with a long-running online presence.

For many of us, it’s a way to connect — to seek answers
when Dr. Sears and a shot of whisky just don’t cut it. And sometimes in
your darkest hours — like at 3 a.m. when your kid won’t sleep, you’re
covered in baby puke and it’s time to pump — there’s somebody out there
who can tell you that it will be alright.But while our candidness in the blogosphere and on
social media can be a source of comfort, there is also the risk of
oversharing. Many of us, professional bloggers and casual Facebook users
alike, are starting to feel that things have gone too far.For the past year, the actress Mayim Bialik, who
starred in the 1990s series “Blossom” and now appears on the CBS hit
“The Big Bang Theory,” has been writing for my site. She’s an Orthodox
mom who blogs about dressing modestly on the red carpet, posts photos of
breastfeeding her 3-year-old on the subway and offers vegan recipes for
Passover. She has more than 40,000 followers on Facebook, and whenever
she posts something on the social media website, it gets hundreds and
hundreds of comments and “likes” on the social network.For a celebrity, she’s extremely candid and available.
Because of this, each day she receives her fair share of virtual back
slaps, with a few virtual face slaps mixed in here and there.Earlier this year, one commenter on Facebook told her
that she is “uneducated, dumb, and a horrible threat to our children”
and another added that she should be ashamed to call herself “an
Attachment Parent or any kind of parent.” At the end of May Bialik made a
bold announcement: She was leaving Facebook.“The lack of ‘normal’ dialogue in social media has been
disturbing me for some time now, and I think… it might be better for me
not to use social media to interact and respond and have discussions
any more at all,” Bialik wrote in a Kveller post.Her fans responded immediately, saying they were
“saddened” and “shocked” and begged her not to go. As show of support,
1,240 fans “liked” the post on Kveller.One of the first of the mom bloggers was Heather
Armstrong, an ex-Mormon who lives with her two kids in a sprawling house
in Salt Lake City. She started her blog, Dooce.com, a decade ago to
chronicle her dating life and career. It eventually morphed into a place
where she wrote about being unemployed, getting married, having kids
and, most recently, separating from her husband. Her site, which now
mostly focuses on parenting, receives more than 100,000 visitors a day,
and Armstrong is said to earn more than a million dollars a year.In 2010, Armstrong’s oldest daughter, Leta, turned 6
and told her mom that she was no longer interested in having every
embarrassing outfit or outburst documented online. Armstrong decided it
was time to change.“For the last several months, if I have mentioned Leta
here, I have most likely asked her if I could do so, even if it has been
something totally innocuous. I intend to practice this going forward,
so I guess maybe I am censored to some extent,” Armstrong wrote on her
blog.Ultimately, everybody needs to find her or his own way
to deal with the delicate question of what’s too much to put out there
on social media. For now, Bialik has decided that she will continue to
post links to articles she writes, but she will no longer read comments
or post personal updates on Facebook. Armstrong still writes candidly on
her blog about topics like her adult relationships, but is careful
about what she writes about her kids.Now that Mika is getting older, I try to imagine how
she’ll feel one day when she looks at her mom’s Facebook page. Will I
post an update about her sitting on the potty? Or about how she likes to
look at her tush in the mirror? Probably not. And should I be writing
about it here? Again, probably not. As you can see, this is still a work
in progress.Deborah Kolben is the editor of Kveller.com. She has
written for The New York Times, the Financial Times, the New York Daily
News and the New York Post.

10.21.2012

By
Rick Nauert PhDSenior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
on July 6, 2010

A
new report finds that adolescent victims and perpetrators of electronic
bullying appear more likely to report having psychiatric and physical
symptoms and problems.Cyberbullying
is defined as an aggressive, intentional, repeated act using mobile
phones, computers or other electronic forms of contact against victims
who cannot easily defend themselves, according to background information
in the article.In a U.S. survey on Internet use among individuals age 10 to 17
years, 12 percent reported being aggressive to someone online, four
percent were targets of aggression and three percent were both
aggressors and targets.“There are several special features regarding cyberbullying when
compared with traditional physical, verbal or indirect bullying such as
the difficulty of escaping from it, the breadth of the potential
audience and the anonymity of the perpetrator,” the authors write.Andre Sourander, M.D., Ph.D., of Turku University, Turku, Finland,
and colleagues distributed questionnaires to 2,438 Finnish adolescents
in seventh and ninth grade (age range, 13 years to 16 years).Of those, 2,215 (90.9 percent) were returned with sufficient
information for analysis. In addition to information about cyberbullying
and cyber-victimization, the teens were asked to report their
demographic information, general health, substance use, traditional
bullying behavior and psychosomatic symptoms, such as headache and
abdominal pain.In the six months prior to the survey, 4.8 percent of the
participants were only victims of cyberbullying, 7.4 percent were
cyberbullies only and 5.4 percent were both victims and perpetrators of
cyberbullying.Being a cybervictim only was associated with living in a family with
other than two biological parents; perceived difficulties in emotions,
concentration, behavior, or getting along with other people; headache;
recurrent abdominal pain; sleeping difficulties and not feeling safe at
school.Being a cyberbully only was associated with perceived difficulties in
emotions, concentration, behavior, or getting along with other people;
hyperactivity; conduct problems; infrequent helping behaviors;
frequently smoking or getting drunk; headache and not feeling safe at
school.Being both cyber bully and cyber victim was associated with all of these conditions.“Of those who had been victimized, one in four reported that it had resulted in fear for their safety,” the authors write.“The feeling of being unsafe is probably worse in cyberbullying
compared with traditional bullying. Traditional bullying typically
occurs on school grounds, so victims are safe at least within their
homes. With cyberbullying, victims are accessible 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.”The results suggest that cyberbullying is an increasingly important type of harmful behavior, the authors note.“There is a need to create cyber environments and supervision that
provide clear and consistent norms for healthy cyber behavior.
Clinicians working in child and adolescent health services should be
aware that cyberbullying is potentially traumatizing,” they conclude.“Policy makers, educators, parents and adolescents themselves should be aware of the potentially harmful effects of cyberbullying.”The research is found in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.Source: JAMA and Archives Journals

I have been involved in a worker comp suit for over 5 years.
It is not an easy thing to navigate, nor is it quick. Here are some points
based on my experience.

You have to get hurt AT THE JOB to file a suit, and even
then, still it can be hard to have a claim accepted. For example, I had
previous back problems, but went into spasm on the job because my work
aggravated my problem. I filed a claim. My work denied the claim, and then said
they would terminate me when my short term disability had ended. That is ILLEGAL.

Short term disability is a State provided benefit, not
Worker’s Compensation (WC). I collected 8 months of State Disability before my
case was accepted and then the Insurance CO. that is your employers WC carrier
has to reimburse the State for the money you have collected. By the way, your
State Disability benefits come from your own personal account which you have
paid into for the years you have been employed. Once your account is depleted, your
benefits end.

The Insurance Company and your Employer will more than
likely fight you every step of the way. It is business and it is a law suit.
They fight to win. If you have a real case, you must get an attorney. Try to
get a referral. WC attorneys do not make the money they once did and so they
try to spend as little time with you as possible, which leaves you in the dark
and confused and frustrated much of the time. Between that and the humiliation-
coupled with the fact that the system makes you feel like you are lying and
trying to get something for nothing,

It is not for the faint-hearted. If you do not have a
working spouse or financial resources behind you to sustain you through the
process it will be difficult to hang in there for the duration. The WC
Insurance carrier will stall, ignore requests for your treatment, deny
treatment, and make your doctor appeal the treatment requested. You have to be
able to take that in stride and know that it is part of the process.

You may be required to go through a deposition. I did. You
may be required to go to an AME (agreed medical examiner) or QME (qualified
medical examiner). These doctors are supposed to be the neutral party that
examines you; they determine the legitimacy of your injury. Some of these
doctors are perhaps a little more biased towards patient’s rights or employer’s
rights. An experienced attorney should be able to direct you towards the best
choice for you and your case. What this Physician says, “goes. If it goes your
way you will begin collecting your WC benefits, which like your State Dis. is
based upon your earnings. You can get these benefits for two years max. If you
are still disabled after two years and have funds in your State Dis. account,
you can re apply for that money.

Settlement

There are two halves to this: compensation for your injury /
Future Medical

Settling them both at once is called C&R or Compromise
and Release.

Based upon the ratings determined by WC law, the extent of
your injuries, and the portion of those injures which are considered preexisting,
a percentage of total disability will be assigned to you. That % = a $ amount.
That dollar amount will be paid to you over month installments not to exceed
$529 every two weeks, until the total liability is exhausted. If your total
disability is 70% or more, you are entitled to a 'life time pension'.

I have been unable to find out what amount of money that is,
not for lack of asking.

You may settle the above mentioned portion of your case
(btw, standard attorney fees are 18% of that amount off the top) and keep your
future medical open. I chose to do this because of my multiple injuries and my
worries about being able to afford insurance premiums. This is a whole separate
topic and a nightmare in itself. Once your % of disability is determined the
Ins. Co. will want to pay you off so you will go away. They will offer a
C&R, a dollar amount far less than what you expect, or that seems adequate
for your future medical. The carrot they dangle is that they will give you one
check for everything rather than pay you every two weeks. They count on your
financial dire straights and exhaustion so you will settle. I think the
attorneys are pretty much ready to be done with you too, and it is the most
money for their amount of time. Just my opinion.

(BTW, you can change attorney's mid course if you have a
good case, and they have to work it out amongst themselves. You don't even have
to fire the old one in person, the new one files paperwork. One change is probably
the limit, too little money for them to divide up.)

Reopen

You can reopen your case within five years of your date of
injury if your work related injuries have worsened or it you have other
injuries as a result. For example, you have to take a lot of pain meds and you
become addicted, or medications make your teeth start to weaken and cause
problems, or you become depressed because of your disability. Be careful here,
you can not become depressed because your parents die, or your kids get hurt,
ONLY as the result of your injury. You can't sleep because of your pain, now
you have insomnia and are depressed. I have filled for a reopen. They are
fighting it, of course.

Settling Future
Medical Later

I am in the process of this. It is hard being in the system
and I want out. I have been awarded Social Security Disability, so while
relieved, SSDI opens up a whole new can of worms, the MSA or Medicare Set
Aside. (More on this another time.

Start a File, Keep everything. Get copies of every doctor’s
report. Ask them to mail you a copy of the doctor’s dictated notes: labs,
x-rays, MRI's, everything. You will need it if you file for SSDI for sure.
Label and file all documents. It will be much easier if you start right at the
beginning, really. Trust me, you want to do this. Marian F., October, 2012

10.19.2012

"Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week."

Spanish proverb

10.18.2012

SplashData reveals 2011's 25 worst passwords

Reaffirming a smaller study released earlier this year, SplashData has published a list of this year's 25 worst passwords. We've seen countless security breaches
this year and in many of those cases, the hackers released the stolen
data online. SplashData has used that information to compile its list.
Although some of the swiped passwords were shamelessly stored in
plaintext, most were encrypted. In other words, for the following
passwords to even make it on the top 25 list, they must have been
cracked. That just further illustrates how worthless they are:

1. password

6. monkey

11. baseball

16. ashley

21. 654321

2. 123456

7. 1234567

12. 111111

17. bailey

22. superman

3. 12345678

8. letmein

13. iloveyou

18. passw0rd

23. qazwsx

4. qwerty

9. trustno1

14. master

19. shadow

24. michael

5. abc123

10. dragon

15. sunshine

20. 123123

25. football

Naturally, if you're using any of those passwords, you should change
them immediately. SplashData offers other tips on securing your Web
accounts. For starters, you'll want to use passwords of at least eight
characters or more with mixed alphanumerics. Without the help of a
service such as LastPass or RoboForm
it can be difficult to remember long, randomly generated strings of
text. SplashData suggests using memorable short words separated by
spaces or other characters such as "eat cake at 8!" or "car_park_city?".
Programs such as KeePass can safely store your passwords locally.
"Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying
common passwords. Even though people are encouraged to select secure,
strong passwords, many people continue to choose weak, easy-to-guess
ones, placing themselves at risk from fraud and identity theft," said
SplashData CEO Morgan Slain. "What you don't want is a password that is
easily guessable. If you have a password that is short or common or a
word in the dictionary, it's like leaving your door open for identity
thieves." With attackers on the prowl this holiday season, it's a great
time to secure your accounts.
In a completely anecdotal side note, I feel compelled to mention that
it seems some people are lured into a false sense of invincibility
online. Perhaps it's because of the Web's relative anonymity, their
general misunderstanding of the technology, or both. Many of the same
individuals would cling to symbols of real world security -- be that an
easily bypassed $10 door lock or forfeiting civil liberties to travel.
Point being: it's odd that many people don't take advantage of free and
easy security measures online, but they'll go to great lengths for
lackluster security measures in the real world.